Having an excessive amount of system RAM is the computer geek’s equivalent of bragging rights. It’s like buying a 6.1 liter V8 engine when the four-banger would really do just fine. Do you really need all that horsepower? No, but man that car flies when you want it too. It’s pretty satisfying watching a tricked-out Honda get smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror, right?
The same philosophy doesn’t hold true for system RAM unfortunately. Whereas buying a bigger car engine will typically give you more noticeable power & performance, system RAM’s usefulness drops off pretty quick (BTW, I’m talking about “normal” computer users and gamers here, not universities building cheap supercomputers or anything like that).
For example, take Mike, who left a comment on another post of mine. He informed me that he’s running 24GB of RAM in his gaming rig (but, he informed me that Crysis is still crashing).
And here I thought I had a lot with 8GB!
The latest Steam Hardware Survey shows that most users are running 3GB of RAM. Truthfully, when I switched from 4GB to 8GB, I didn’t notice a thing in any of my games or applications. Even firing up Crysis 64-bit typically results in a gig or two of usage. So 24GB in a gaming rig seems like a lot of electricity being wasted for no good reason.
So the question is: how much RAM is too much excess just for the sake of excess? How much RAM do you currently run? Any other thoughts or comments on the matter are welcome.
Oh and if you feel like it, please post your system specs.